Register for Emails

A journalist holds a gold ingot next to a security officer of the German Central Bank, right, in Frankfurt, Germany, Wednesday Jan. 16, 2013. Germany's central bank is to bring back home some US $36 billion ( 27 billion euro) worth of gold stored in the United States and France.The Bundesbank said in a statement Wednesday that it will repatriate all 374 tons of gold it had stored in Paris by 2020. An additional 300 tons - equivalent to 8 percent of the Bundesbank's total reserves worth about $183 billion _ will also be shipped from New York to Frankfurt. Frankfurt will hold half of Germany's 3,400 tons of gold by 2020, with New York retaining 37 percent and London storing 13 percent. The move follows criticism from Germany's independent Federal Auditors' Office last year bemoaning the central bank's oversight of gold reserves abroad. (AP Photo/dpa/ Frank Rumpenhorst)

Betsi Fores

Most of Germany’s gold was originally stored abroad during the Cold War as a precaution against a Soviet Union invasion. Now, German politicians are calling it back.

By 2020, half of the country’s gold will be returned to the the German Central Bank, the Bundesbank. Currently it only keeps a third of it on hand.

The Bundesbank is retrieving all of its gold reserves from Paris. From New York, it will lower its reserves from 45 percent to 37 percent by the end of the decade. Overall, 3,400 tons of gold are expected to return to Germany at a current market value of $200 billion.

“No gold will be moved out of the Bank of England’s vaults, however. It will still keep 13% of its total reserves in London,” BBC reported.

The repatriation of gold was initiated when a Germany’s Federal Auditors criticized the government for not keeping proper track of their gold bars.

“The auditor suggested the central bank should carry out regular inspections of the gold held abroad to verify its book value or change the reserves’ management,” the Associated Press reported, noting that some even held conspiracy theories as to whether the foreign-held gold was real or not.

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.